Nashoba football remains unbeaten heading into Turkey Day

Wednesday

Nov 21, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 21, 2012 at 7:12 AM

By Craig Holt ITEM STAFF

Like last year, when it also had an undefeated record entering the annual Thanksgiving Day game, Nashoba Regional High School’s football team will be looking to finish the regular season next Thursday with a bang.

This year, the 10-0 Chieftains travel to North Middlesex Regional for a 10 a.m. Midland-Wachusett B League clash at the Patriots’ John Y. Young Memorial Field.

Nashoba won last year’s Turkey Day match-up, 52-14, at home. Two years back, the Chieftains prevailed at North Middlesex, 47-0.

Less than two weeks after the 2010 Thanksgiving Day contest, Nashoba lost to St. John’s in the Super Bowl. The Chieftains have not been beaten since, and extended their winning streak to 23 games last Friday with a 44-0 road triumph over Oakmont Regional.

The Patriots sport a 3-7 overall record and a 1-3 mark in the league. North Middlesex, 2-9 in 2011, lost big to resurgent Wachusett Regional, 48-21, last week at home. Nashoba topped the Mountaineers on opening night, 44-14.

Citing the desire to finish unbeaten and the importance of the holiday clash to the seniors, Nashoba coach Ken Tucker said he expects a good effort from his team, which has a great deal of respect for a Patriots’ squad that is well-coached and improving.

In addition, with the playoffs just around the corner, Tucker welcomes the opportunity for the Chieftains to continue to hone their depth, providing Nashoba can build a good lead.

“It’s a big game — they’re all important to us — but continuing to develop our depth is very important,” Tucker said. “We’ve proven over the last several weeks that we’re more than just a running team. We’re also a passing team. And we’ve got very good depth with our various running backs.

“Developing depth is something we’ve been trying to do all season,” Tucker said. “John Ojukwu is still trying to get healthy, so we’ve been seeing if we could get another back to do the job. The objective is to get better every day.”

With Ojukwu out, senior running back Paul Louissaint and junior running back Eli Williams have stepped forward to provide the Chieftains backfield depth. Williams contributed two touchdown rushes against Oakmont, while Louissaint had one.

“They’ve been pretty impressive, as has the blocking up front,” Tucker said.

North Middlesex, second to Nashoba in the league with 204 points scored, is led on offense by senior running back Brandon Lambert, who has totaled 664 yards rushing on 96 carries. Lambert has scored 10 touchdowns and averages 6.9 yards per carry.

Sophomore quarterback John Boutwell has connected on 29 of 57 pass attempts and has 551 passing yards for eight touchdowns. Lambert and Boutwell are the dominant players in the Patriots’ offense.

The North Middlesex defense has allowed 279 points and, accordingly, will be severely tested against a Chieftains’ offense that has scored more than 40 points in three of its last four games.

Nashoba was clicking on all cylinders last week against the overmatched Spartans (4-6), rolling up a commanding 37-0 lead by the intermission. That included a 21-point explosion in the first quarter that saw three different players scoring rushing touchdowns.

“I’m a historian of sorts when it comes to football and I know what the Nashoba-Oakmont rivalry used to be,” Tucker said. “It’s always been a great traditional game. We used to call it Thanksgiving early. In this game, we did what we had to do and got a lot of kids in, and stayed healthy.”

The locals put the game away in the first quarter.

Nashoba turned the ball over (interception) on its first possession, but got it right back after Oakmont coughed it up on its second play from scrimmage when Cameron Rothfuss recovered a fumble at the Spartans’ 17.

Louissaint had a touchdown rush on the first play from scrimmage. Junior Drew Korn kicked the extra point.

The Chieftains’ defense forced the hosts to punt on their next possession and Nashoba capitalized with a 50-yard scoring drive. An 8-yard rush by Cross and a 13-yard pass from senior quarterback Jack Sarnoski to senior wide receiver Brady Schartner put the locals on the Oakmont 8.

Williams followed with his touchdown burst. Korn kicked the extra point.

The Spartans fumbled again on their next possession and the Chieftains took possession on the Oakmont 33. Five plays later, Cross crashed the line of scrimmage for a touchdown. Korn’s kick upped the Nashoba advantage to 21-0.

Cross had a nifty 58-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter, while Williams contributed a 32-yard scoring scamper. The Chieftains added two more points when senior Matthew Kelling blocked a punt, the loose ball rolling out of the Spartans’ end-zone.

Junior Matt Mudgett had a 10-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter. Korn kicked the extra point, his sixth of the game.

Ojukwu, a game-time decision against North Middlesex after sitting out against Oakmont with an injury, leads the Chieftains with 923 yards rushing on 77 carries. He has scored 17 touchdowns. Cross has 485 yards rushing on 74 carries. He has scored seven touchdowns.

Tucker lauded Cross for his outstanding play against Oakmont.

“He had the great runback for a touchdown, and is a great player,” Tucker said. “Andrew is tough to tackle. He’s low to the ground, like a bowling ball.”

The Sarnoski-Schartner combination continues to click. Sarnoski has completed 44 of 84 passes for 767 yards. He has scored nine touchdowns.

Top target Schartner has caught 26 passes for 525 yards. He averages 20.2 yards per catch and has scored six touchdowns.

Senior linebacker Zach Hume has been dominant on defense. He has 85.5 tackles, despite battling an injury early in the season.